A place for keepsakes...

Hello everyone, Alison (butterfly) here again to share an altered box with you today.  I had a lovely time with this one, then hit a complete stall and then, with one risky piece of bold stamping, leapt over the block to end up with something which I really love!

It certainly started out somewhere completely different... as a cheapy gift box from Kik (sort of the Czech equivalent of Woolworths crossed with a pound store).  They were less than 50p each, and in a number of shapes and sizes, so I picked up quite a few.

I started with layers of paint, using a Claudine Hellmuth acrylic (Blank Canvas, so basically white!) for the first time - what great coverage!  I stuck ripped up pieces of Tim Holtz tissue wrap quite randomly onto the still wet paint and left the whole thing to dry.

Out with the Grunge Paste next... another first time for me, and I LOVE it!  I smeared on lots of lovely Harlequin diamonds - very happy with the ease of application (and the smell!).

Then some inking to start adding colour to the piece... layering up Faded Jeans, Chipped Sapphire, Frayed Burlap and Walnut Stain.

I used Cobalt Archival to stamp the delicious tiny polka dots as well as the butterfly from Katy Fox's Encyclopaedia Botanica set.

The little beetle is from the same set, and he's stamped in Coffee Archival, as is the tiny handwritten script from Katy's Carte Postale plate.

I used Distress Paints to alter some metal Idea-ology embellishments: one of the Bookplates, and some Foliage flowers and leaves.

The Chipped Sapphire paint has a slightly more purple-y hue than the ink, so I added some paint to the box edges too, so that the embellishments would tone in better with the whole piece.

The lovely Idea-ology word band added a much-needed horizontal element to the arrangement, but somehow I still wasn't happy with the whole thing.

It was all very pretty, but it was missing something.  I wish I had a photo of that stage to show you - as I think one could easily have stopped there... but I just couldn't quite leave it.  I tried adding some ribbon (various ribbons in fact)... no good.  And then, finally, taking a deep breath, I took the large, beautiful flower stamp from the Encyclopedia Botanica plate and stamped it right on the very top of the box.

Thankfully, it works beautifully (I think!)... a really bold statement against the delicate layers of the background.

Some old, discoloured tracing paper was the perfect colour to sit within the bookplate, and I used my Hero Arts letters to stamp the word k-e-e-p-s-a-k-e-s on it - making my altered box into somewhere precious to keep precious things.

Thank you so much for stopping by today.  I'd love to hear what you think... and don't forget there's still time to play along with our Words challenge here at The Artistic Stamper.  See you there!

Happy Crafting!
Alison x

Ingredients used:
Stamps: Artistic Stamper - Encyclopaedia Botanica, Carte Postale, Dots
Distress Inks - Chipped Sapphire, Faded Jeans, Frayed Burlap, Walnut Stain
Distress Paints - Picket Fence, Chipped Sapphire
Claudine Hellmuth Studio Paints - Blank Canvas
PaperArtsy Grunge Paste
Crafter's Workshop stencil - Harlequin 6x6
Idea-ology Findings - Ornate Plates, Foliage, Word Bands
Idea-ology Fastenings - Long Fasteners
Ranger Archival Ink - Coffee, Cobalt
Idea-ology Tissue Wrap - Terminology